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Mikaela Shiffrin falls during the women’s giant skateboarding competition on day three of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
Tom Pennington / Getty Images
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Tom Pennington / Getty Images
Mikaela Shiffrin falls during the women’s giant skateboarding competition on day three of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
Tom Pennington / Getty Images
BEIJING – Slide queen Mikaela Shiffrin has been dethroned after a fall on her first run in the giant slalom event in Beijing. Her mistake cost her a golden opportunity in her best event.
US Ski confirmed to NPR that Shiffrin is now out of the competition, after she failed to finish first of two giant slalom runs. The last time the two-time Olympic champion failed to complete a giant slalom was more than four years ago.
Shiffrin faltered after about 11 seconds on the court. As she sped down the mountain, she lost control and couldn’t hold the edges of her skateboard. Finally she slipped a turn and fell sideways. Several other riders on Monday morning faltered similarly on the track.
“I felt that I pushed really well and attacked. But there was only one turn, I had a small, small mistake when I was really trying to push and that made the difference,” said Shiffrin. talk about what happened. she fell after only five turns on the field.
The quality of the snow on the field is unforgivable, she said.
“Snow is great for skiing. Oh man, it’s really beautiful but if you make any small mistakes you really can’t get out of it,” she said. “As you can see, I did the worst of it on that turn.”
Ahead of the Beijing Olympics, Shiffrin is said to have a solid chance of winning five gold medals in each of her events. Before that, she won gold in the giant slalom game in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Shiffrin notes that her fall is a rare occurrence.
“I was really working on timing my turns and really never thought this would be part of the problem,” she said. “There’s definitely disappointment.”
Over the past two years, Shiffrin has had to deal with the untimely death of her father in 2020, a severe back injury, and 300 days of downhill skiing due to a COVID-19 infection. The tension of those events caused the slalom champion to consider retiring.
